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Thursday, August 30, 2018

Dr. Graves Steps Down from BHCA

It is with sadness that we say goodbye to Dr. John Graves who stepped down from
his seat on the Black History Commission of Arkansas (BHCA) this month. He had been a member of BHCA since 1993.

A native of Little Rock, Graves is a history and political science professor
at Henderson State University. He received his Ph.D. in history from the
University of Virginia and his M.A. and B.A. degrees in history from the
University of Arkansas. His principal area of scholarly specialization has been
the study of race relations in Arkansas during the latter half of the
19th and the early 20th century.

His pioneering master's thesis constituted the first scholarly
investigation of the origins of racial segregation and Jim Crow practices in
Arkansas. It was also the first scholarly work to identify the fact that
Arkansas's 1891 Election Law served as an instrument for political
disfranchisement, driving many poor and illiterate persons, both black and
white, from the polls.

Graves was a strong supporter of the Arkansas State Archives and the
Department of Arkansas Heritage. In addition to BHCA, Graves served on numerous boards and societies that support Arkansas history, including
the official State of Arkansas Advisory Board of the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center
and the Arkansas Historical Association, once serving as its president.

He was a founding member of the Mosaic Templars Building Preservation
Society and was instrumental in spearheading a successful sixteen-year effort
to restore and reconstruct the historic Mosaic Templars of America Headquarters
Building in Little Rock and create the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center.

More recently, Graves and other officers of the preservation society have worked
with Stacy Hurst, director of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, and with
representatives of Gov. Asa Hutchinson to secure the Mosaic State Temple
building, which adjoins the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center.

Dr. Wendy Richter has been grateful for Graves' support of ASA through the BHCA. “During Dr. Graves' tenure, the Commission conducted and funded many
projects important to preserving our state's history,” said Richter. “He
played an integral role in making all of that happen. His service has been
invaluable.”

In recognition of the above activities, he was awarded his department's
first endowed named chair, the Edgar and Marguerite Henley Professorship in
American History.

On his time with BHCA, Dr. Graves expressed it best: "What a pleasure
it has been to have had the opportunity of serving with such a fine group of
people over so many years. It has truly been one of the great honors of my
life."